Zombie Aladdin
New member
- Mar 28, 2014
- 340
- 0
I've dropped a few posts on here already, since I have the usual thing of lurking about until there's something I really want to get off my chest, but I figure I might as well introduce myself.
I won't tell you my real name, my home address, or my occupation, but I can tell you this: I actually got into pinball very recently, on September 2013. Since then, I've been traveling around Los Angeles County and its surrounding counties (so far, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside--Kern is a wasteland for pinball) to play as many machines for real as I can in an attempt to understand it as much as I can. Naturally, there are many machines on The Pinball Arcade that even a megalopolis like Southern California wouldn't have on location (most notably Cactus Canyon, which is admittedly rare or, for some reason, anything illustrated by Python Anghelo).
Besides pinball, my interests are video games and animation. I like my videogames colorful, light-hearted, and/or humorous, so I lean towards things made by Shigeru Miyamoto (Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Pikmin), Suda51 (Killer7, No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw), and Masahiro Sakurai (Kirby, Super Smash Bros., Meteos). I'd probably like Tim Schafer's stuff too if I ever had a system he developed games for besides The Cave. In addition, I am a fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon series. I quite dislike the Sonic fanbase, however, so please don't lump me in with those angsty kids who draw over official artwork with MS Paint and call it "original character - do not steal."
There are few animated things I genuinely hate, even if there are many cartoons I don't like. I enjoy cartoons from all eras, from turn-of-the-20th-century to stuff on nowadays, from Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (I have a now-discontinued DVD set of every surviving Oswald cartoon) to Looney Tunes to Batman: The Animated Series to The Simpsons to Avatar: The Last Airbender to Adventure Time, and yes, even My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. (That last one, from an animation standpoint, shows the merits of Flash, commonly derided by animation fans, but it shows what it's capable of if you put as much effort into Flash as you would for Toonboom or traditional cels.) My favorite western animation series are Dexter's Laboratory, Kim Possible, Gravity Falls, and South Park. My favorite anime and manga are One Piece, Hunter X Hunter, Cyborg 009, and Monster.
I draw as a hobby. I have not taken any formal art training though. Not much else to say on this front, as artists-on-the-side are everywhere and are a dime a dozen.
Perhaps it's because I got into pinball so late, but on location, I prefer Stern machines. Maybe that's because they're the only ones new enough to be in great condition out in public whereas the Bally/Williams and Gottlieb machines have suffered extensive wear and tear. However, what I like in a pinball machine are a good sense of progression, and like in video games, not taking itself very seriously. My favorite machines I've played in public are Junk Yard, Star Trek (Stern), Spider-Man (Stern), The Sopranos, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Family Guy/Shrek, Metallica (Master of Puppets Edition), Wheel of Fortune, White Water, and Batman (Stern). My favorite pre-DMD machine I've played on location is Strange Science. I'm guessing it's because I have a background in video games and have rigorously tried to better myself at pinball, but I also really like Baby Pac-Man. For that game, you have to be good at both video games and pinball to fare decently at it, and I'd bet Baby Pac-Man gets incredibly frustrating to most.
I personally see many things wrong in the pinball business right now, and while it's back on the rise, I feel it's a market waiting to be disrupted. (By this, I mean Blue Ocean disruption, a la the Wii or Pepsi-Cola.) I have much respect for Stern Pinball and Jersey Jack Pinball right now, as their efforts are earnest and the passion of Gary Stern and Jack Guarnieri can be felt thousands of miles away, but pinball is currently a market catering to a small group of people while ignoring a sea of potential other audiences. (Using the Wii as an example, it was marketed outside of the affluent male 18-34 demographic and became a big success in this way.) From what I'm seeing, there are lots of people right now who are interested in pinball, either playing them or owning them, but decide that it's too expensive to own a machine, or it's too intimidating or overwhelming for them. What I'm seeing wrong in the business and how I feel they can be fixed I'm keeping a secret to myself and a select few others for now though--after several months of observation of pinball, I have a few ideas that will dramatically lower production costs and bring in audiences previously not interested in pinball at all. I also think a renaissance is due to arrive in pinball, but only if at least one company sees it coming and is ready to strike while the iron is hot. Sadly, I don't see any company currently in business doing what I have imagined due to pinball's deeply rooted traditions and refusal to learn why video games triumphed at the arcades. (Take that as a hint if you might.) So if no one else will do it, perhaps I will.
After all, you don't revolutionize a business without doing radical alterations to it. Heinz became synonymous with ketchup by changing it from a salty runny sauce to a thick sour one. FedEx became a force practically overnight via overnight shipping. The pedestrian curricle was given pedals in 1863 and recognizably became the vehicle known today as the bicycle. We don't need quite as big a game-changer as Humpty Dumpty's introduction of flippers though (now there's a game that'd make an...interesting addition to The Pinball Arcade).
I also personally believe The Pinball Arcade is doing a great service to stoke interest in pinball (though it has some questionable business choices of its own, but that's a discussion for another day). People who play this game might go out and look for real pinball to try. If they have the money, they might buy some machines of their own. I don't know how big of an impact it's doing, but it is certainly helping.
Now if only Williams would stop wringing pinball fans of all the money they can muster and actually support the business.
I won't tell you my real name, my home address, or my occupation, but I can tell you this: I actually got into pinball very recently, on September 2013. Since then, I've been traveling around Los Angeles County and its surrounding counties (so far, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside--Kern is a wasteland for pinball) to play as many machines for real as I can in an attempt to understand it as much as I can. Naturally, there are many machines on The Pinball Arcade that even a megalopolis like Southern California wouldn't have on location (most notably Cactus Canyon, which is admittedly rare or, for some reason, anything illustrated by Python Anghelo).
Besides pinball, my interests are video games and animation. I like my videogames colorful, light-hearted, and/or humorous, so I lean towards things made by Shigeru Miyamoto (Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Pikmin), Suda51 (Killer7, No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw), and Masahiro Sakurai (Kirby, Super Smash Bros., Meteos). I'd probably like Tim Schafer's stuff too if I ever had a system he developed games for besides The Cave. In addition, I am a fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon series. I quite dislike the Sonic fanbase, however, so please don't lump me in with those angsty kids who draw over official artwork with MS Paint and call it "original character - do not steal."
There are few animated things I genuinely hate, even if there are many cartoons I don't like. I enjoy cartoons from all eras, from turn-of-the-20th-century to stuff on nowadays, from Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (I have a now-discontinued DVD set of every surviving Oswald cartoon) to Looney Tunes to Batman: The Animated Series to The Simpsons to Avatar: The Last Airbender to Adventure Time, and yes, even My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. (That last one, from an animation standpoint, shows the merits of Flash, commonly derided by animation fans, but it shows what it's capable of if you put as much effort into Flash as you would for Toonboom or traditional cels.) My favorite western animation series are Dexter's Laboratory, Kim Possible, Gravity Falls, and South Park. My favorite anime and manga are One Piece, Hunter X Hunter, Cyborg 009, and Monster.
I draw as a hobby. I have not taken any formal art training though. Not much else to say on this front, as artists-on-the-side are everywhere and are a dime a dozen.
Perhaps it's because I got into pinball so late, but on location, I prefer Stern machines. Maybe that's because they're the only ones new enough to be in great condition out in public whereas the Bally/Williams and Gottlieb machines have suffered extensive wear and tear. However, what I like in a pinball machine are a good sense of progression, and like in video games, not taking itself very seriously. My favorite machines I've played in public are Junk Yard, Star Trek (Stern), Spider-Man (Stern), The Sopranos, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Family Guy/Shrek, Metallica (Master of Puppets Edition), Wheel of Fortune, White Water, and Batman (Stern). My favorite pre-DMD machine I've played on location is Strange Science. I'm guessing it's because I have a background in video games and have rigorously tried to better myself at pinball, but I also really like Baby Pac-Man. For that game, you have to be good at both video games and pinball to fare decently at it, and I'd bet Baby Pac-Man gets incredibly frustrating to most.
I personally see many things wrong in the pinball business right now, and while it's back on the rise, I feel it's a market waiting to be disrupted. (By this, I mean Blue Ocean disruption, a la the Wii or Pepsi-Cola.) I have much respect for Stern Pinball and Jersey Jack Pinball right now, as their efforts are earnest and the passion of Gary Stern and Jack Guarnieri can be felt thousands of miles away, but pinball is currently a market catering to a small group of people while ignoring a sea of potential other audiences. (Using the Wii as an example, it was marketed outside of the affluent male 18-34 demographic and became a big success in this way.) From what I'm seeing, there are lots of people right now who are interested in pinball, either playing them or owning them, but decide that it's too expensive to own a machine, or it's too intimidating or overwhelming for them. What I'm seeing wrong in the business and how I feel they can be fixed I'm keeping a secret to myself and a select few others for now though--after several months of observation of pinball, I have a few ideas that will dramatically lower production costs and bring in audiences previously not interested in pinball at all. I also think a renaissance is due to arrive in pinball, but only if at least one company sees it coming and is ready to strike while the iron is hot. Sadly, I don't see any company currently in business doing what I have imagined due to pinball's deeply rooted traditions and refusal to learn why video games triumphed at the arcades. (Take that as a hint if you might.) So if no one else will do it, perhaps I will.
After all, you don't revolutionize a business without doing radical alterations to it. Heinz became synonymous with ketchup by changing it from a salty runny sauce to a thick sour one. FedEx became a force practically overnight via overnight shipping. The pedestrian curricle was given pedals in 1863 and recognizably became the vehicle known today as the bicycle. We don't need quite as big a game-changer as Humpty Dumpty's introduction of flippers though (now there's a game that'd make an...interesting addition to The Pinball Arcade).
I also personally believe The Pinball Arcade is doing a great service to stoke interest in pinball (though it has some questionable business choices of its own, but that's a discussion for another day). People who play this game might go out and look for real pinball to try. If they have the money, they might buy some machines of their own. I don't know how big of an impact it's doing, but it is certainly helping.
Now if only Williams would stop wringing pinball fans of all the money they can muster and actually support the business.
